RHODES TO ACADEMIA

GRADUATION is usually an austere affair but Zandra Rhodes certainly brightened up the proceedings at Edinburgh's Heriot-Watt University today, where she received an honorary Doctorate of Letters "in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the fashion and design industries". Dripping with her trademark oversized jewellery with her hair its usual shade of shocking pink, the grande dame of British fashion - whose crazily patterned and coloured creations won her a place in fashion history during the experimental Seventies - donned a traditional grey gown over her pink dress as she accepted her award. She then posed for jubilant pictures in the sunny university grounds at the Scottish Borders Campus in Galashiels. The doctorate joins various others on Rhodes' CV, awarded during her career by institutions as far flung as Miami and San Francisco. (July 10 2007, PM) Leisa Barnett